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DE RUEHJA #0131/01 0290728
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 290728Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4393
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1150
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 000131 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/PD, EAP/RSP 
S/P (GREG BEHRMAN) 
NSC FOR PRADEEP RAMAMURTHY 
NSC FOR D.WALTON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL SOCI KISL EAID KPAO ID XF
 
SUBJECT: Indonesia - US Interfaith Dialogue: A Cairo Initiative 
Success Story 
 
¶1.  (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please handle 
accordingly. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  The January 25-27 Indonesia-U.S. Interfaith 
Dialogue, the first of its kind under President Obama's Cairo 
vision, concluded with the issuance of a joint statement that calls 
on the U.S. and Indonesian governments and international religious 
and multi-religious organizations to move from conferences to 
community action.  The agreement highlighted four key areas where 
interfaith cooperation would be most effective: 1) eradicating 
poverty, 2) combatting climate change, 3) improving education, and 
4) promoting good governance.  Our media strategy and engagement 
with participants that crossed religious, national, gender, age and 
socio-economic boundaries can serve as a model for future dialogues. 
 Press coverage was extensive and positive.  Transcript of the joint 
statement is attached.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Interfaith Dialogue Resounding Success 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) On January 25-27, the Indonesian government hosted the 
first bilateral interfaith working group event under the Cairo 
Initiative.  The event focused on building communities through 
interfaith work as a component of the Comprehensive Partnership. 
The U.S. delegation was lead by Pradeep Ramamurthy, senior director 
of global engagement for the NSC.  Ari Alexander represented the 
White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.  In 
the opening statements both the Foreign Minister Natalegawa and 
Ramamurthy expressed the hope that this conference would lead to 
actionable programs in line with the goals of our Comprehensive 
Partnership. 
 
Public Outreach Strategy 
------------------------ 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Working closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
(KEMLU), we developed and implemented an innovative media strategy, 
which included live streaming of the opening and closing ceremonies 
for the conference and a webchat.  It was the first live streaming 
at a KEMLU event.  The webchat featured Zeenat Rahman of the 
Interfaith Youth Core in Chicago and alumni of U.S. exchange 
programs and drew participants from across Asia, including 
Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, 
Pakistan, and the Philippines. Press coverage was straightforward 
and positive.  It included publication of a number of photos of 
participants and five exclusives with three leading newspapers with 
a combined circulation of 320,000.  The Director General for 
Information and Public Diplomacy Andri Hadi said this forum received 
far greater press coverage than any other interfaith dialogue in the 
past. 
 
Participants Key to Follow-On Activities 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Both the Embassy and KEMLU invited a number of university 
students and interfaith activists engaged in interfaith tolerance 
efforts to participate.  Many of these unofficial participants 
expressed their eagerness to help take the recommendations and turn 
them into concrete actions.  Discussions are already underway with 
KEMLU to identify possible areas of future collaboration and 
partnership.  The agreement highlighted four key areas where 
interfaith cooperation would be most effective: 1)eradicating 
poverty, 2) combatting climate change, 3) improving education, and 
4) promoting good governance. 
 
¶6.  (U) The text of the joint declaration is as follows: 
 
Shared Concerns and Commitments 
Indonesia-US Interfaith Cooperation Forum 
27 January 2010 
Jakarta, Indonesia 
 
Introduction: 
 
We-religious leaders and other civil society actors from the 
Republic of Indonesia and the United States of America-are committed 
to taking common action on urgent challenges that confront us all. 
These challenges respect no borders.  They leave us, finally, only 
as secure as the least secure among us.  Even as we acknowledge our 
own complicity in and responsibility for these challenges, we are 
motivated by our respective diverse religious and other heritages 
 
JAKARTA 00000131  002 OF 003 
 
 
which also tell us that we can and must act together. 
 
We are grateful to the government of the Republic of Indonesia for 
hosting us in Jakarta and for its partnership with the government of 
the United States in supporting our commitments for common action. 
We are convinced that principled program partnerships by diverse 
religious communities, other civil society actors, and governments 
are essential to confront today's challenges. 
 
In our bilateral dialogue, we also are grateful for the presence and 
contributions of regional participants from Cambodia, Japan, 
Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. 
 
Shared Concerns: 
 
Respectful of our religious and cultural differences, and informed 
by our mutual experiences of diversity, we are united around the 
following concerns.  We believe these concerns present common 
challenges and responsibilities to each of us and our communities: 
 
Poverty:  Vast numbers of the human family are trapped in 
unprecedented structural poverty and denied the basic means to work 
their way out of it.  Our religious communities are urgently called 
to respond to this structural poverty in new ways so as to enhance 
our communities' already established and valuable practices of 
charity and philanthropy. 
Climate Change:  Rapid global warming, pollution, and the depletion 
of natural resources threaten the foundation of human life and the 
earth as we know it.  Our religious communities are called to 
protect the integrity of the environment, even while they are also 
called to advance a just and sustainable development for all. 
Education:  Within our religiously diverse societies, each community 
is called to educate its members on the importance of freedom of 
belief for all and to honor the value of diverse religious 
contributions to the good of society.  Religious communities must 
equip themselves to work with each other to advance the common good, 
while retaining their distinct religious identities. 
Good Governance:  While all institutions, including religious ones, 
need good governance, we call on all governments to strive to be 
participatory, accountable, transparent, and equitable.  In 
addition, we urge them to be fully committed to inclusivity and to 
the protection of minorities. 
Shared Commitments: 
 
We are united in the following commitments: 
 
Ending Poverty: 
 
¶1. Educate our religious communities on the causes of structural 
poverty and advocate in governmental and intergovernmental forums 
for its eradication. 
¶2. As a complement to the work of specialized religiously-affiliated 
development agencies, work to engage local religious 
communities-including women's and youth groups, and schools-in the 
implementation of grassroots-led development and public health 
programs. 
¶3. Advance multi-religious partnerships, while engaging the public 
sector, in order to equip local religious communities for such 
programs. 
Protecting the Environment: 
¶1. Educate our religious communities on the dangers of climate 
change and environmental degradation, and advocate in governmental 
and inter-governmental forums for effective, equitable, and 
verifiable climate and environmental protection agreements. 
¶2. Work to engage our local religious communities-including women's 
and youth groups, and schools-to advance "green" standards, models, 
and practices. 
¶3. Advance multi-religious partnerships, while engaging the public 
sector, in order to equip local religious communities for such 
efforts. 
Promoting Education on Religious Diversity and the Common Good: 
¶1. Educate our religious communities about religious diversity and 
its value for the common good. Encourage each religious community to 
identify and teach from it's own text and traditions about the 
inviolable dignity of others and their freedom of belief and 
practice. 
¶2. Jointly advocate for basic formal education about religious 
traditions, religious diversity, and their importance for social 
cohesion; and advance related informal education, placing special 
priority on women's groups and experiential service programs for 
youth. 
 
JAKARTA 00000131  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶3. Advance multi-religious partnerships to counter religious 
discrimination, persecution, or humiliation, and to foster respect 
for diverse religious sensitivities. 
Advancing Good Governance: 
¶1. Explore the application of the principles of good governance to 
our own religious institutions. 
¶2. Educate our religious communities on the need for good government 
and advocate for it. 
¶3. Advance multi-religious partnerships to educate and equip local 
religious communities for advocacy for good government. 
Facilitating Cooperation: 
 
We are committed to working together across religious communities, 
with other civil society actors, and with governments in program 
partnerships. 
 
We believe that a key to good program partnerships on shared 
objectives is a respect for the unique identities, mandates, and 
capacities of all partners.  In this regard, we believe that 
religious communities should continue to strengthen multi-religious 
structures that would serve as appropriate partners with other civil 
society and government actors. 
 
We also believe that these partnerships can be especially helpful 
for equipping religious communities to scale up action programs to 
address shared concerns.  We commit ourselves to a joint process to 
frame an agenda for future actions. 
 
We respectfully call upon the existing Indonesian, American, and 
international religious and multi-religious bodies to both support 
us and join us in our commitment to shared action. 
 
We offer deep appreciation for the partnership between the 
Indonesian and United 
States governments to advance our collaboration, and respectfully 
request as well that they continue to work together with us to 
advance the common good. 
 
We have begun, and we are all heartened by each other's commitment. 
 
 
End Transcript. 
 
 
 
HUME